Deciding on getting a new bulb for my headlight although not sure which ones are really good. Does anyone have a recommendation of any?

Sylvania Silverstar 9003. You can see better in the night.

Also, note that they have a shorter life than the stock H4. Buy 2. Most come in packs of 2 since they are mainly marketed for cars.

hmm, interesting pick. Okay I'll try it out 
Thanks immensely!

There is also a silverstar ultra or ultimate for a few bux more. Have not tried that one tho.

If it is not to your liking, take it back and get a different one.

Getting a Xenon HID is expensive and takes a lot of modding since our beam reflectirs in the e and f models are made for traditional bulbs.  There are some that have done a hid conversion, but takes some serious modification.

Yeah I saw some of the xenon  ideas yet unsure about it because it pretty much seemed easier to buy a new headlight with them already installed.

i am using the phillips extreme 80+ one... woulda got the 100+ but out of stock on the day and i needed one right now! they still the 60/55w standard power but brighter somehow

had aftermarket twin headlight pods on the bike at the time... put one in beside a standard globe and very definate difference...when i put the F fairing back on with the '06 headlight.. little tweak for alignment... at night its REALLY good with my 80+... 100+ will be better when i do that next time....

the car has the 100+ in and also better... no shorter life issues yet .. been in there 15 months ... IMO phillips are probably the best lightglobe producers for standard wattage but high output.

hmmm... even more interesting Jan thank you I guess once my settlement comes in I'll go out and decide what to put in

i should say that i am in Aussieland ... and also the pair of 80+ i bought as well as the 100+ for the car previously .. were all about $80 a pair from my local autoshop..

reckon cheaper online available.. and there is more expensive bulbs around too .. last set of bull-light bulbs for the work truck were HIR (poormans HID) and cost $180 a pair ... but for the better vision i think its worth it.

one thing to note... a lot of the 'brighter' bulbs dont look that much brighter when you look at the headlight itself .. a little but not much ... the more noticeable difference is down the road in front of you...

my 'thing' is being able to see while night driving or riding .. and proper adjustment of the beam angle etc can make a HUGE difference... sometimes its real fiddly to get just right .. and my missus makes 'the face' at me on the occasions i will spend 5-10 mins getting it just right...( her car took me half an hour cos some previous fool thought that left light looked good aimed 3 feet in front and a foot left almost .. while the right light was a hazard to any passing planes) 

the end results are .. for me .. completely justified 

if you have a F then the balance between high/low beam aim is a bit of a compromise as the high tends to be very high .. on mine anyway .. the balance is acheivable though ...

i usually do the bike on a 'dark' night... out on a local rural road with almost zero traffic... so you can pick up the difference immediately ... if you try it with a alignment system in a garage you can get close .. but its always off a little...

anyway thats my 2cents

dang it... wheres the 2cents smiley gone?

Reminds me.
I gotta check what kind of bulb I have in mine already!

Had to replace the headlight when I bought it as it only had the bucket with an aftermarket headlight over it.
So I got one from a salvage yard.

and its not Brighter then normal, it just lights up WAYYYYYY more then any other bike I've seen! even pics I've seen on here too.
Heck, I dont even need to use my high beams almost Ever!

LOL poor planes!!
I have an E model and I in all honesty will probably never go for a fairing model.
and I am going to try the philips and see how they are.

I have the PIAA Hyperwhite. It's very bright. The brights are amazing but I barely use them.

@tombs ... Maybe you lucked in and got real good adjustment position as standard 

@canyon ... Beam height adjustment can still be valuable testing 

@Mvent ... What's the wattage on the PIAA ? .. And comparative cost and durability? .. The Phillips are the best I have come across for price/life/light so far .... BUT ... Always open to new info and product 

@Mvent ... What's the wattage on the PIAA ? .. And comparative cost and durability? .. The Phillips are the best I have come across for price/life/light so far .... BUT ... Always open to new info and product 
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Sorry, I went by memory on the name, it's PIAA Xtreme White. 55w/65w They say it's equivalent to 100w/110w but its definitely not that bright. It's is brighter though and the wash of light is A LOT more even.

hmmm k cool...  ... i have found on the trucks at least that the large reflector driving lights/'bull lights' work well enough with various wattage bulbs... with not that much difference to look directly at the lens from the side.. plus sitting in the vehicle and looking downrange its not that different either ...

the most noticeable difference is longer range ... say 200-300 metres/yards on the wide angle and about 600-800 metres/yards for the pencilbeam (and further than that for road reflectors , up to 2.5km!) for the visible lit area of road ahead ... the brighter wattage .. OR .. 'brighter output' bulbs increase viewing definition a fair bit... and it holds true for any vehicle i have seen.

the relative bulb length and position in the focal point of the reflectors changes the downrange characteristics too..

always been a fan of round lenses/reflectors VS rectangles or in the case of my '06 F bike the odd downward point triangle .. however the beam pattern is very easy to work with on the bike and my initial  moment was quickly over .. the reflector is doing the work though with its many 'facet' surface.

on the E's its all due to the lens facets only yeah? still completely workable .. it'd be cool though to have slightly different lens patterns available .. to suit/match varying user tastes .. i know a lot of different bikes use different lenses .. but i dont know how uniform the various size/s are? .. we could hope that the round light bikes of any brand all use a common-ish diameter and mount lug pattern? ..

anyone clarify on this?

when i get a chance (not often enough ) i like to night ride a moderate mountain road , as well as some pastoral country roads within about 50km of where i live .. few of the mates pay out on me for flicking the beam high and low frequently when negotiating various corners and sections .. its simple though .. the light pattern you actually need to use is different on high and low .. and what i aint lookin at or need to concentrate on is 'superficial scenery' .. its night .. you cant see it properly anyway .. the rush of road into the lightbeam becomes the sole focus and i love the intensity of it 

oops .. my ramble got a roll on .. again 

but PIAA Extreme white .. might just suggest to one of my ride mates that he try them too .. that way i get to evaluate/compare risk free    .. depending on local cost though.

I know what you mean. There are some turns where i use the high beam to look ahead through the turn.